Sky gets No. 3 pick in WNBA draft

The Chicago Sky will select third in the 2009 WNBA draft. The eighth annual daft lottery was conducted by WNBA officials establishing the first five picks of the draft. The Atlanta Dream will have the first pick.

The Sky had 167 chances out of 1000 to receive the first pick. The Washington Mystics will have the second pick, followed by the Sky with the third, the Minnesota Lynx with the forth, the Phoenix Mercury with the fifth pick.

The lottery included the five teams that did not qualify for the 2008 WNBA playoffs. The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the order of selection for the second and third round is determined by inverse order of their respective regular-season records.

The Sky finished the 2008 season with a 12-22 record, just missing a spot in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Jia Perkins led the team in scoring with 17.0 points per game.

Similar to the 2008 draft which introduced Sky center Sylvia Fowles to the WNBA, the 2009 draft class is anticipated to provide another elite group of athletes including: Renee Montgomery from Connecticut, Courtney Paris from Oklahoma University, Kristi Toliver from Maryland, and Kia Vaughn from Rutgers University.